Saipa Chess Club wins 2017 Asian Club Champions League

Members of Iran’s Saipa Chess Club pose for a photograph during the 2017 Asian Club Champions League in Citrus Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka, on August 6, 2017.

Iran’s Saipa Chess Club has brilliantly ended its campaign at the 2017 Asian Club Champions League in Sri Lanka, and finished first to take the title of the continental sporting event.

On Sunday evening, the Iranian team, which had already pulled out convincing and well-deserved victories in the first three rounds of the Asian event to certify its early championship, trounced a squad from the host nation 4-0 in the final showdown.

Saipa Chess Club also secured a spot at the 2018 World Team Championship in Radebeul, Germany, with the achievement.

Ehsan Ghaemmaghami, Masoud Mosadeghpour, Amin Tabatabaei and Amir Rezapour were members of the Iranian squad. They were under the tutelage of Morteza Mahjoub and supervised by Masoud Namvari.

Saif Sporting Chess Club from Bangladesh, Australia’s Sydney Chess Club Australia, Bai Xue Qi Yuan of China and the Sri Lankan Team occupied the second to fifth positions.

The 2017 Asian Club Champions League, organized by Chess Federation of Sri Lanka under the patronage of the Asian Chess Federation, started in Citrus Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka, on August 1 and will finish on August 8.

The championship was played as a Swiss System team tournament. Trophies, medals and certificates were awarded to the top three teams. A total of $10,000 cash prizes were awarded to the top three participating clubs, with the top-ranked squad receiving $5,000. The second- and third-placed teams got $3,000 and $2,000 respectively.